


Not So Terrifying After All

by MaskedCyborg



Category: One Piece
Genre: Ace's death, Amnesia, And then it breaks it in half, Angst, Childhood Memories, Cute, It's builds up your heart, Look at it, Luffy has PTSD now most likely, M/M, On its leg, Panic Attacks, Poor Luffy, Sabo's not actual death, Sad, Short & Sweet, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, and laughs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-29
Updated: 2017-04-29
Packaged: 2018-08-31 16:59:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8586568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaskedCyborg/pseuds/MaskedCyborg
Summary: Ace was starting to forget some of his memories of Sabo.





	1. A.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in class because I'm a bored savage. I really like how it turned out.

Ace was starting to forget his memories with Sabo, and it was terrifying.

Whenever he would lay on the deck of Whitebeard's ship daydreaming about the good days when he was a kid, in some memories he wouldn't even be there. Sabo would disappear, making it only him and Luffy fighting crocodiles or building a treehouse. The last bits of Sabo he had left started to disappear into thin air, like he wasn't important in his life at all. When really, he was the only reason he wasn't a beaten and forgotten skeleton of a boy the world _hated_  with a burning passion, alone and dead in a alleyway.

The last, vivid memory Ace had of Sabo was the day Sabo had asked him out.

It was a warm, breezy summer day, the faint sound of the ocean lapping at the beach barely heard in the bustle of the forest, birds chirping, leaves rustling. It was one of those few days Luffy was held back at the Bandit's den to do house chores. Ace sat upon a stump waiting for Sabo to show up. And then there he was, blue coat that was almost too big for him trailing behind him, his curly blond hair rustling as he tried to hold his hat on his head, gasping for air. He had a red face and couldn't make eye contact.

God, and Ace was just as stubborn and mean as always, picking at Sabo for being late, and Sabo merely smiled and caught his breath. There was a odd chill up his spine. Sabo went quiet, the only sound was of the birds and the ocean, which they dreamed of escaping to.

And all it took was one swift movement, where Sabo, short cute stammering Sabo, grasped Aces hands inbetween his and that was all it took, all of Ace's walls immediately fell and he  _softened._  

"Ace, I've liked you for a really long time, and I don't want it to ruin our friendship if you don't like me back, because you're all that I have, and I like you, so please go-"

And he kissed him. Sabo had nearly crumpled on the spot in shock but he kissed him, it was sloppy and quick but he did, and when he pulled back Sabo just about  _tackled him_ , and despite not being very good at kissing, they kissed and laughed, and while they were close on the ground,  Ace had muttered a "Of course it wouldn't ruin our friendship idiot, and i'll go out with you if that means later i'm top," which was followed by a screeching red Sabo and a laughing Ace.  If Luffy knew about them dating and how close they were after that, he had never shown it, and Ace didn't really mind that at all.

 

Ace was starting to forget his memories with Sabo, but at least he had his favorite, and maybe that wasn't so terrifying.


	2. S.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sabo doesn't remember Ace at all.

Sabo didn't remember Ace at all.

 

He knew some nights he would lay in his bed, his chest burning and longing for somebody to sleep next to him, anybody, and a deep sense of sadness he couldn't place, and he would curl in a ball and hold himself until he fell asleep, then sprawling out. He knew there was something off about his dreams, where he remembered sitting on a tree looking out at the garbage filled beach and vast ocean with the faint memory of a voice calling his name. He remembered he'd been kissed before, and it was a really great feeling, but it didn't seem the same now as it did then. He remembered warm hands that were somewhat larger than his own, but not by much, he remembered looking at the dimples on his face one day in the mirror, wondering how many smiles had to have made it. 

He didn't remember the small nervous kisses exchanged between him in Ace, whether it was on their chapped lips or the cheek, he didn't remember how red Ace's face got any time they did something romantic or how incredibly soft he would become. He didn't remember how Ace bought him (with stolen money) new goggles when his old ones cracked in battle, He didn't remember praising Ace for how easily he beat up a Bananacroc all on his own, or how the freckles that mapped Ace's skin were like the stars in the sky, uncountable. He didn't remember stealing a unbrella on a rainy day on his way to the forest because he knew Ace disliked the rain, He didn't remember Luffy's goofy grin or that too big hat on his head, he didn't remember gathering enough money to buy cheesy roses for Ace on Valentines day, and how Ace fought with Dadan on how he needed a vase. It hurt to think about it, how he would hesitate when he saw the trace of freckles on someone, anyone, in a crowd. It hurt to think of who he might've been, if he went back to that dreaded island that didn't seem as bad as others said it should be. It seemed welcoming, scarily, almost. 

It hurt unbelievably so that dreaded day he picked up the newspaper and read the death of Portgas D. Ace, and it felt like he had been torn and shredded into a thousand pieces. It was a pain he most certaintly could not forget, and he felt like he was screaming to blackness with someone, but his pain barely able to be compared to theirs. The minute he hit the ground passed out was the minute not when his sadness and regret and longing for those chapped lips again faltered, but grew ten thousand times his size.

And when he awoke once again, and Koala left the room after discovering he was okay, he curled up into a ball hidden by the blanket, holding himself together, and he cried. He cried and cried and cried and cried and he might as well have died right then and there, what would he care. He wasn't there, not for Ace to kiss him and get him back and not for Luffy who's entire mind shattered right on the spot, where he was marked and probably haunted by his mistakes, by the blood on his hands. It only shredded his heart more, and he didn't even know how it was even still beating with him gone. 

 

Sabo didn't remember Ace, but when he did, he died that day too.


	3. L.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luffy remembered Ace; vividly so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was only A and S, and I thought, "why not make it like when they were kids?"
> 
> Anyway. This should be the last chapter.

Luffy remembered Ace; vividly so. 

He remembered when it was just him and Ace when they were kids, beating up various animals for dinner, and Ace saving him every time he fell in the water. He remembered the day Ace snatched a devil fruit, and he had that look on his face when he figured out it was fire. He remembered Ace not coming out of their room for weeks because of it, because there was that fire, that fire that caused them to never see Sabo again. He remembered staying with Ace during that time only going out to catch a gator and come back to spend the rest of the day with him. They would just lay there, and Luffy would tell him all about the things he did that day in hopes of cheering Ace up. He remembered the day Ace set out to sea, remembered when he was all alone again. He practiced his punches, day in and day out, saying to himself the entire time,  _I'll get there. I'll be a pirate. I'll see Ace again. I'll have friends._

He could remember the day he  _did_ see Ace again as clear as day. He could tell you the shape of the clouds (nonexistent), what the sun looked like (bright), the faces of the townspeople who passed by (er), what Ace looked like. He was tan, alot more so than he was before, and he had patches of dead skin on his shoulders from sunburnt. His hair was long and wavy, like it was before, and his freckles looked more prominent. Actually, there were thousands of them. He had the same orange hat he got from Dadan and his voice was the same, still haunting.  _Good to see you again, Luffy. Where's your crew?_

He remembered hearing the news of Ace being captured and he felt like his whole world was tearing apart at the seams. He was alone. His friends were somewhere out there in the sea that didn't seem so impossibly big before, hopefully not dead. There were various bad guys chasing after him, and his brother was about to be exiled. He remembered running up those billions of stairs at Impel Down, because he was too late, he didn't make it in time, and he was gasping so hard for air. He was dying, he could feel it. The purple poision felt like it was still rushing through his veins, killing him slowly. Ace, he needed to save Ace. He felt like Ace was in arms length but he was still left grasping at air, chained and bleeding because he wanted his brother back. 

 

He remembered when they announced Ace was the son of the King Of The Pirates. They called him a monster. A freak. Somebody who deserved to be killed, but in a worse way. That Ace was such a horrible person who did all these horrible things. Bile rised in his throat. He wanted to scream,  _He's not a monster! Not as much as you are!_ he wanted to curse, he wanted to be furious, to burn. So he did. He yelled. He burned. He even punched one of his old friends in the face. Ace was right there. He could make it. But he didn't burn long enough. 

 

He remembered... when Ace died. 

His head was in his lap, a wound in his head and a hole in his chest. Everything seemed so quiet for a battlefield, only Ace's shaky breath and last words and Luffy telling himself  _No, no no no no no,_ _not Ace, Not Ace._ Until it all stopped.

He remembered everything about Ace. He remembered how he hated the rain, and he would stay inside those days. He remembered how hard he cried when Sabo died, he remembered knowing how much Ace loved Sabo and only showed it with a larger smile. He remembered how he disliked fire, but still used it and still fought with it like it was apart of him. He remembered how much of a clutz he was, always running into trees when they were kids. He remembered how he'd always fall asleep in the middle of a sentence and how much he got a kick out of it. He remembered how sensitive Ace was, how much words hurt him. He remembered how his eyes were brown and glazed over when he died, still open, still  _staring at him._ He remembered sobbing and shakily bringing his arm up to close Ace's eyes, and everything go white as his whole world broke apart. He was screaming, and crying, and then suddenly.. he wasn't. And his chest hurt. It hurt like he was going to die, like he was on fire, like he had a hole in his chest just like Ace did.

He remembered Ace, and he remembered Ace dying. But he also remembered Ace whispering from the day he left him and the bandits in the back of his mind, 

 

 

_I'll come back._


End file.
